


Leikr

by themantlingdark



Series: Gemini [3]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 18:08:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16897458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themantlingdark/pseuds/themantlingdark
Summary: please don't comment or repost.





	Leikr

Loki wakes to the grey light of early morning and the now-commonplace cries coming from the next room. They're more disgruntled whimpers than full out howling, so he doesn't rush himself.

“Coming, darlings,” he calls and begins disentangling himself from Thor.

They're spooned tightly together. Thor has put his hand on Loki's belly at some point in the night, though Loki has declared the area off limits.Thor is resisting this one request. Loki is constantly peeling Thor's palms off of his stomach or shooing them away when he sees them making for it.

Loki swings up to his feet and staggers into the nursery. He changes soiled diapers and cleanses filthy little backsides with seidr before scooping the babes up and seating himself in a large low chair lined with pillows and blankets. He arranges the babies carefully, one head in each hand, held to a breast, while their bodies are cradled against his sides with his forearms. Pillows prop them all up further and Loki can sit there in a daze, staring at them, watching the milk drain from his breasts, seeing the flesh flatten and sag ever so slightly as the babies' bellies swell. They blink up at him and he marvels at their eyelashes. Smiles down at them and fills their ears with endearments.

He's getting cabin fever. He wants to go swimming, and he wants Thor to come, too, but he feels strange at the mere thought of leaving the babies behind with a maid. The possibility of being absent when they want him makes him feel guilty. This responsibility belongs to he and Thor.

Thor's sense of responsibility has sentiment so deeply entrenched in it that it makes Loki feel like he and his brother came from different realms... which they did, technically, but Loki was raised here, and somehow he made it through with his good sense intact. Thor, on the other hand, is still changing diapers by hand, though he knows the spells to save himself the trouble. Loki asked why in the world and Thor said he wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. Loki said he really couldn't imagine what one could find enjoyable about scrubbing excrement off of anything, even the buttocks of a babe. Thor just rolled his eyes and waved Loki off. Nature god, Loki reminded himself. Gets hit in the head a lot, too.

Loki slips a finger into the corner of each baby's mouth to break the suction and release his poor aching nipples without undue injury. He then sets the twins back in their crib, bundling them up together, snug and sleepy, before shuffling back into bed, where Thor wraps warm arms around him once more.

They've been kissing and caressing each other constantly since they got back to their cave -  any time they've both been conscious and the babies have been sleeping. Thor likes it. It feels like they're catching up on the things they missed out on as youths – the centuries they should have spent lying side by side in tall grass, branding their love onto bared skin with warm lips and holding each other close until morning.

The entry to Loki's womb is still closing, and the walls of his quim are stretched and achy. Even his ass hurts. And making milk is exhausting him, as is sleeping at the convenience of two infants. The breast pumps and bottles Thor bought on Midgard might as well be made of pure gold for how dearly Loki values them. Thor has always had an easier time forgoing sleep than Loki, and the bottles enable him to handle the night feedings while Loki manages the ones during the day. Their sanity is safe, but they're still exhausted.

Two hours later Loki wakes to more whimpering and repeats his nursing routine. When he returns, Thor is sitting up, blinking sleep from his eyes and stretching. His chest spreads wide and his ribs stick out and Loki wants to crawl up inside of him and sleep there in the slick darkness of Thor's breast. Just for a week or two. A month at most.

Thor gets up and kisses him on his way to fetch water. Loki tugs on clothes. He has to go see Halldis today to make sure he's healing properly. He's not looking forward to it. He knows what it looks like in there after someone has given birth. Red and angry. He's nervous that it might never be the same. That his quim won't fit tight against Thor's cock the way it once did. That his nipples will hang from loose flesh and hurt forever. That his abdomen will always be droopy and puffy. That the skin of his stomach will forever bear the stretch marks that currently cover it.

He kisses Thor goodbye and says he'll bring back breakfast.

While Loki is gone, the babies wake and Thor uses the opportunity to give them a bath. He wants to be the god of this - of bathing babies. To travel the realms, knocking on doors, saying, “Hello, I'm the god of thunder and ablutions and I'm here to wash your babies.” It wouldn't work,Thor laments. No one would part with this pleasure. He sits on the rug, legs stretched out in a wide V, giggling at his thoughts, washing the boys in the little wooden tub Odin made for them. He wishes they got dirty more often. He wants to do this every day, but Loki says it will do more harm than good.

When he looks up, Loki is staring at him, one eyebrow raised. Thor didn't hear him come in.

"What?" Thor asks.

"I'm wondering about the wisdom of leaving the three of you unsupervised. It's a bit like leaving the cat to watch the canaries... Or perhaps the blind to lead the blind."

Thor pretends to glare at him and lays the boys down on a pile of towels, drying them carefully and thoroughly, getting in all the dimples and creases in their plump little limbs.

Thor understands where all the sentiments about babies – what a sweet thing, you're so precious, I could eat you right up - come from now: it's all he can do to resist stuffing their ridiculous little legs into his mouth. Loki caught him mouthing their toes the other day, all three of them giggling. Thor had gone pink with embarrassment until Loki plopped down beside him and confessed he had already done the same thing himself. Thor gave a relieved laugh and then they both set to nibbling the tiny toes, sending their owners into fits of happy gurgling and squirming.

Thor puts them back in the crib and he and Loki sit down to a generous breakfast. Loki eats most of it. Thor had thought his brother's appetite would return to normal after he gave birth, but instead it increased. “I need it to keep my dairy running,” Loki had said of the mountain of food on his plate, patting his breasts as he spoke. Loki feels like a cow even without his helmet on, but he loves that he can eat more than Thor.

“What did Halldis say?” Thor asks, after they've finished their meal.

“I'm well. Nearly mended.”

Thor grunts his approval.

Loki rises, kicks off his leggings, and flops down in bed.

He wakes to find his tunic has been pushed high up on his ribs. Thor is straddling his thighs, kissing his stomach and running his hands over it.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Thor freezes and his eyes go wide. He's caught. And he's as guileless as ever.

"Don't take Belly away from me," Thor blurts, wincing as soon as the words have left his tongue.

Loki bites his lips to stifle his laugh so he doesn't wake the twins.

"You named my stomach Belly?" Loki asks, once he has recovered.

"I might have," Thor murmurs.

"I pray it didn't take you long to come up with that moniker," Loki teases. "And I hereby revoke your right to name our children."

Thor smiles. Loki isn't angry.

"Why are you so drawn to it?" Loki asks, referring to his abdomen. "It looks like something that drowned a week ago."

Thor scowls and bends to kiss Loki's stomach and soothe it with long light strokes of his hand.

"Don't talk about Belly that way," Thor says, and Loki rolls his eyes, but his face is fond.

Thor frowns, thinking. Loki waits.

"You've been sharp and thin and firm all your life," Thor murmurs. "The babies made you round and full and soft. And somehow it suited you just as well. But you're changing back now.  And soon there won't be any evidence of this. No trace of the belly that bore our children... I want to enjoy it before it's lost."

Loki nods and Thor bends to resume his kisses.

“Why does it bother you?” Thor asks, words muffled by Loki's flesh.

“It's a tease. I reach to touch my stomach, expecting it to be full with them yet, but they're gone. I'm just... mushy in the middle now. Not my flat former self. Not pregnant. Merely strange.”

“You're only ever yourself,” Thor says, between nips to the skin before his lips.

Loki smiles and plays with Thor's hair, then sits up and takes his shirt off. The smooth mounds of his breasts are exposed, nipples swollen and dark. Thor doesn't touch them unless Loki asks him to; he thinks of them as realms that belong to his brother and the babies, for they called the perky peaks into being.

Thor carries on with kissing Loki's stomach, rubbing his face back and forth across it, tickling it with the stubble on his chin. He feels Loki's cock bob up and smack him in the throat and he hums, but otherwise ignores it in favor of tickling Loki's waist.

“Will you kiss along here?” Loki says, tracing the curves on the undersides of his breasts.

“Mmmhmm,” Thor answers, tipping his head to reach them.

Thor's whiskers make Loki twitch.

“Come up here,” Loki says, tossing his head back to beckon his brother.

Thor kisses his way up Loki's sternum, throat, and chin, crawling forward all the while, until their lips are level and he can lick into his brother's mouth, pulling pants and sighs from it and coaxing it into happy curves. Loki's fingers thrust up through Thor's hair and tug on it, pulling his head back so that Loki can suck on his neck. When Loki is done there he tugs the hair up, tipping Thor's chin down and aligning their lips once more so that they may resume the soft kisses they started. Thor feels cool fingertips tracing his jawline and drawing the swirling lines of his ears, making him hum and suck harder on Loki's tongue.

Their cocks are brushing against each other, making their hips jerk. Loki can feel cold spots blooming on his belly where fluid drips down from the impatient tips of their pricks.

“Can you reach the oil?” Loki asks.

Thor nods and leans forward to retrieve it, setting the cold bottle in Loki's waiting hand.

Loki is still healing from giving birth, so Thor isn't sure what his brother has in mind. Perhaps he wants me to ride him, Thor thinks, and feels his cock twitch at the thought.

Loki pours oil into his palm and rubs it all over his belly, then smears what's left onto Thor's cock. He pats his stomach in invitation.

Thor's eyes go wide and he stares at his brother. Loki nods.

Thor crawls forward and holds himself up on his arms and legs, lowering his hips down toward Loki's navel. Loki reaches between them to press Thor's cock firmly against his abdomen, forming a little tunnel of fingers and flesh.

Thor gives an experimental thrust.

“All right?” Thor asks. “Not too much pressure?”

“It's fine, love,” Loki says, smiling up at Thor.

Thor's head sags so he can watch as his cock glides against his brother's lovely body. His balls smack the tip of Loki's prick on each downstroke. He doesn't last long. He gasps at the sight as much as the sensation: creamy ropes of seed spattering Loki's pale skin, cock jerking under graceful fingers.

Thor crawls back down and kisses Loki's cheeks, nuzzling them and panting.

“What would you like?” Thor murmurs.

“Your mouth.”

Thor hums and kisses his way down Loki's body, licking some of his own spend from Loki's stomach on the way. Loki moans at the sight and at the sensation of the wet velvety skin of Thor's tongue so close to his cock. He hasn't had this since the twins came. He and Thor have both been tired and busy.

Thor kisses and laps at the head and shaft until Loki lifts his hips insistently. Loki savors every inch of the slide of Thor's lips down his length. Thor keeps his mouth tight and bobs his head slowly, pulling all the way up, so that his lips rest at the slit briefly before spreading slowly and swallowing Loki's prick again. Loki's willpower is even weaker than Thor's – his brother has been sucking his cock for no time at all when Loki jerks, gasps, and spills into Thor's waiting mouth.

They curl onto their sides and link their shaking fingers, panting and staring at each other.

“All right?” Thor asks.

"Mmmm," Loki nods, smiling.

Thor squeezes Loki's fingers and leans in to kiss his forehead. Loki raises one hand and cleans them up with seidr. Thor fingers the spots on Loki's stomach that no longer have semen on them, paler than the rest of his skin from the chill of the cooling fluid.

“I can't believe you named it Belly,” Loki snorts, and Thor grins and gives the flesh an affectionate pat.

Loki plays with Thor's hair absentmindedly. It's long – down to his nipples. He hasn't cut it since he had Loki lop it off after he woke up from Thanos's attack. Loki hasn't cut his own since before his banishment.

“We look like a pair of merrows,” Loki sighs, and Thor hums and scoops up a palm full of Loki's loose curls, loving the weight of them in his hand.

"What shall we name them?" Thor murmurs.

"Chubby and Tubby," Loki answers.

"Be nice."

"I am. They're fat."

"Loki."

"They're supposed to be fat, dammit, they're babies," Loki whispers. "If they're thin, something's gone wrong."

"We're not calling them Chubby and Tubby. Even temporarily."

"Plumpy and Dumpy," Loki tries.

"No."

"Stinky and Pinky."

"Loki."

"Sleepy and Weepy."

Thor sighs.

"Spitter and Shitter," Loki says.

Thor can't help but laugh at this, for he knows exactly which one is which. The rest of the pairings could be used interchangeably.

“Tempting, but no.”

“Fyri and Vatn,” Loki says, and Thor is silent. “Ský and Bekk... Keir and Roan... Tait and Helgi... Leaf and Egil... Stigr and Sindri-”

Thor stops Loki's lips with a kiss.

“Curse your clever tongue,” Thor sighs. “All of those are lovely.”

“Can you narrow it down at all?”

“I like Bekk, Keir, Helgi, Leaf, Egil, Stigr, and Sindri best.”

“Mmmm. Well, we'll keep chipping away at it. They seem quite content with Darling, Love, Sweetheart, and Little One for the moment.”

Thor nods.

The babies start fussing again and Loki stumbles off to change their diapers and feed them. They don't want to sleep after that, so Loki brings them out and Thor takes one and they each climb into bed and kneel, setting the babies before them and spending the next hour cooing at them, massaging them, letting them wrap their tiny hands around their fingers, singing to them, and mouthing at their toes. When they start to squirm and fuss they pick them up and walk them.

“It's warm today, but not hot,” Loki says. “I think we should take them out for some air. Let them see something other than these walls.”

Thor loves this idea, and nods.

They pack a bag with blankets, towels, and diapers and take the Bifrost to the edge of their favorite wood. The babies are wide eyed and silent.

“Look at them,” Loki smiles. “They don't know what to make of it.”

The light filters through the pine needles in hazy streaks. Birds sing to each other, warning of the strangers in the wood. Squirrels skitter across branches overhead. The air smells of pine and moss and the lake at the center of the forest.

They walk for nearly two hours before the babies complain.

“Should we go home?” Thor asks.

“They're just hungry,” Loki says.

Thor sits down at the base of a tree and leans back against it with his legs spread wide.

“Here,” Thor says, nodding at the ground in front of him. “Sit and lean back on me and I'll help you hold them up.”

Loki grins. Thor holds the babies while Loki takes his shirt off and then sits between Thor's legs. Thor passes the grumbling infants to Loki and then wraps his arms around Loki's middle, making a warm shelf at his sides for the babes to rest on while Loki cradles them each to a breast. The twins are watching the branches overhead, eyes roving over the strange sights.

Thor is nuzzling Loki's nape. They both have their hair up in elaborate knots to keep it off their necks.

“We should do this all the time,” Thor murmurs, and Loki hums.

When the babes are full and happy they continue on their way to the lake.

They laugh when the turtle scoots into the water to hide.

“We should swim,” Thor says.

“We need to watch them,” Loki answers.

“I think it will be enough to swaddle them and ward them,” Thor says, and Loki can't really argue with him.

They set the babes in a mossy hollow between two massive tree roots and cast spells to keep the squirmy creatures from wiggling away. They whisper wards to stop any animals and objects that might bother them and to keep them from getting too hot or cold.

“All right?” Thor murmurs, and Loki nods.

They undress, setting their clothes in neat stacks beside the tree, and then link hands and walk into the lake. The water is warm this time of year, holding the heat of all the summer sun inside of it. The surface is as smooth as glass; the only ripples in it are the ones they've made themselves. The sun warms their shoulders and they pause briefly to turn in its rays, letting it paint their breasts in light. The crickets are trilling unseen in the grass. Their song has always filled Loki with melancholy, warning of winter, much as the robins sing of spring.

They wade out until they're shoulder-deep and then float on their backs.

Loki's eyes travel frequently to the shore to peek at the babies. Thor wants to tell him not to worry. That they'll be fine. But he knows that it's something Loki needs as much for his own sake as the babies'. That Loki feels the lack of them keenly. Feels he's lost them.

And he has.

Surrendered them to the realms. He can't keep them safe inside himself anymore. Their lives are now entirely their own. Thor knows he and Loki must do everything in their power to make sure that these two tiny helpless creatures grow into men and leave them. Grow out of needing their parents.

But then Thor thinks about how much he and Loki still share with their own parents. Still learn from them. And that takes the sting out of it a bit.

A squirrel makes it halfway down the tree they chose before it sees the bundle at the bottom and goes still. Thor pokes his brother and nods in the direction of the babies and they watch as the squirrel tries to decide whether the the little heap of plump limbs is a threat. He inches down slowly, curving around to the far side of the trunk and then scrambling to the ground, bounding away in great panicked leaps. The brothers laugh.

Thor stands and pulls Loki into his arms, wading in toward the shore until the water is at his armpits. Loki leans his head back and lets the sun warm his cheeks while Thor watches the babies. He steals peeks at Loki, seeing his hair threading through the water like ink drawn through hazy green space. Seeing his breasts warp as they float upward. Seeing his bony knees squeezing together where they're clamped in his elbow.  

“There's a fish at your hip,” Thor murmurs.

“Does it look hungry?” Loki asks, not bothering to move.

“Aye. You'll feel his fishy little lips on your skin in a minute.”

Loki hums and then huffs a quiet laugh through his nose when Thor's prediction comes true.

“He's tickling me.”

“He's kissing you,” Thor says.

“He's trying to eat me.”

“He's the size of your fourth finger.”

“Well then I wish him luck,” Loki whispers.

Thor smiles.

“Do you think they'd like the water?” Thor asks.

“They never seem to mind their baths. Only one way to find out, though,” Loki answers and Thor is grinning.

They wade up onto shore and drip their way to the tree. Loki removes the wards and each of the brothers bend to unwrap a squirming baby. They hold them close to their chests as they walk back into the water.

They stop almost as soon as they're in, wanting their sons to feel the little rounded pebbles that line the lake bed beneath their chubby feet.

They kneel in the water and slowly lower the babies into it, babbling encouragements at them and kissing them and smiling at them.

Loki is met with indifference. His son stares at his surroundings and tolerates his father's experiment, waving his limbs lazily in the water.

Thor is met with delight. His son splashes and squeals and giggles, grasping at the water and trying to put his face in it. Thor weaves him back and forth in the lake and finds the baby's mirth infectious.

Loki has given up on trying to convince his son of the joys of swimming and is nursing him instead. He rarely gets to feed just one of them at a time and it's a luxury to him. To be able to give all of his attention to the tiny soul in his arms. To cradle his head to a nipple, tuck his body under the other breast, and hum songs that are only for him.

Eventually, Thor worries that the babies will get cold and rises, so Loki follows.

The brothers trade infants and Thor rocks his son to sleep while Loki nurses and snuggles his giddy little swimmer.

They swaddle the babes and dress before gathering their things and picking up the twins.

“Do you wish to walk?” Thor asks.

“Only for as long as they remain awake,” Loki answers. “If it keeps them up then perhaps they'll sleep longer tonight.”

Thor nods and they walk back into the woods.

The babes are still captivated by the lines of the branches over their heads and the songs of birds in their ears, taking it all in contentedly. They fuss after a couple of hours, but only because they need their diapers changed and want a small snack. Afterward they resume their obsessive staring.

They make it all the way through the woods and begin to walk through the meadow, but the boys grow bored with nothing but clear skies over their heads and begin to nod off. Loki sighs and Thor hums and they stop and call to the Bifrost.

They bow and chime, “Good evening, gatekeeper,” before vanishing again into their cave.

Loki puts the twins down for a nap while Thor fetches dinner.

They eat slowly and twine their ankles together under the table.

“We should take them out again tomorrow,” Thor says, and Loki nods.

“You should bring the rain after supper so it's not too soggy for us.”

Loki checks on the babies while Thor brings a storm. The twins are still asleep, so Thor doesn't bring any thunder. He wonders if the citizens of Asgard know that quiet rain means his  sons – and frequently his husband - are sleeping.

Loki is on his side in bed when Thor gets back. He pats the empty space in front of him and Thor shrugs off his clothes and climbs in, curling up in front of his brother, kissing the tip of his nose.

Loki looks tired. Possibly sad.

“All right?” Thor whispers, and Loki's eyebrows pull up in the center.

Sad, then, Thor thinks. Not just weary.

"I meant for us to have more time," Loki says, voice soft and strange, and it sounds like an apology.

Thor's brow wrinkles, puzzled.

"Before we had children,” Loki clarifies. “I meant to spend more time with you. Just the two of us. To make up for all the years we missed."

"Shhh. It's all right, love,” Thor soothes, pushing his fingers through Loki's hair and kissing him. “They won't be babies forever. They'll be sleeping through the night and wanting to go on hunts before we know it.”

Loki nods.

“I do know what you mean,” Thor murmurs. “I miss you, too. Miss how free we were. But I'd have it no other way. This is no loss. We have millennia ahead of us.”

Loki smiles at this thought and hums against Thor's lips.

After the twins were born, Halldis informed the kings that the inner passage of Loki's quim was off limits until she told them otherwise. They had both expected this, as it was what they told the new mothers for whom they'd acted as healers, but they had hoped that being gods counted for something and perhaps they'd only have to wait a day or two. No such, luck, as it turned out. But Thor had noted that she only specified the interior of Loki's cunny and he filed that information away in his brain.

Thor pulls his brother close and nips at his lips while his fingers knead Loki's waist. Loki smiles at this. Thor's hands roam over bare skin while the back of his mind prays that the babies keep sleeping. Loki's fingers are combing through Thor's hair, twirling it and twisting it before piling it up on the pillow and rubbing the shoulders that were hidden beneath it. The bulk of his brother pleases Loki more each day. This is mine,Loki thinks. This body belongs to me, and it is no trifling thing.

Thor's right hand has wandered down to smooth over the curves of Loki's behind. Loki arches his back and hums to encourage this. Thor sucks Loki's tongue into his mouth and gives a squeeze to the muscle in his hand, pressing on it afterward and pushing their hips together. Loki's breath gusts out his nose as his nostrils flare and his head falls back. Thor takes advantage and bites Loki's neck, sucking on the spot and raising a bruise on the pale skin. He leans his weight forward until Loki tips onto his back and Thor hums his approval. If it were painless and somehow survivable, Thor would eat his brother. He curses the inadequacy of his jaw – too small to fit very much of his husband in his mouth.I'll have to make do, Thor thinks, grinning.

“You've a predatory look about you,” Loki murmurs. “Like a kitten chasing yarn.”

Thor snorts and bites him again and Loki's laughter warps into a moan.

Thor makes his way down Loki's neck, fanning kisses out over his collarbones and shoulders. When he gets to Loki's breasts, Loki's hands come up to grip Thor's head, holding it there. Thor kisses the soft mounds of flesh carefully, cupping them in his free hand, tracing them first with his fingertips and then with his tongue. It makes Loki's breaths come faster. Thor can feel Loki's cock bobbing against his belly.

Thor's lapping, kissing, and sucking tease a few drops of milk from Loki's nipples and Thor's eyes dart up to see if Loki is watching. Loki's head is thrown back and his eyes are closed. Thor decides it's safe and he keeps licking and sucking and kissing the skin beneath his lips, making sure to swipe his tongue through the little white droplets at random.

“How do you like the taste?” Loki asks and Thor stills.

I will never get away with anything again for as long as I live, Thor realizes.

“It's rich,” Thor says. “Sweet and nutty. Weaning them will be a battle.”

Loki chuckles at this and nods, fingertips massaging Thor's scalp.

Thor resumes his kisses and doesn't bother with stealth when he laps up more spilt milk.

Loki arches his back, thrusting his ribs up into Thor's mouth, and Thor drags his teeth over them before kissing his way down Loki's body. And then he's nuzzling Loki's belly and Loki's prick is badgering him rather insistently – butting his chest and throat. Thor hums and Loki gasps at the vibrations that travel through Thor's neck and buzz against the base of his cock.

Thor teases Loki with gentle kisses to the peaks of his hips and then licks a thin stripe up the left side of Loki's cock with the tip of his tongue. Loki groans and Thor gives the same treatment to the rest of Loki's erection before finally sinking down onto it with his mouth.

Loki's hips buck up and his hands scrabble in the sheets at his sides. Thor sucks him hard and long and when Loki is tensing and breathing fast, Thor pulls off and sits up.

“No,” Loki gasps. “Thor, please.”

“Shhh. I've got you,” Thor reassures, crawling up the bed to get oil.

Loki looks on, face taut with want.

“Give me your hand,” Thor coaxes, and pours a little oil into Loki's palm before guiding it to Loki's cock.

Loki coats his skin with lazy strokes while Thor slicks up one of his fingers and gets down on his belly.

Loki spreads his legs in the air in a wide V and Thor hums in appreciation.

The skin between Loki's thighs is wet. The sheets beneath him are dark with damp. Thor kisses the plump flesh of Loki's balls and swirls his tongue over them in figure eights while Loki arches his hips up, trying to tempt Thor into piercing him with his tongue, but Halldis will have their heads on pikes if they disobey her, so Thor keeps his tongue slack as he circles the mouth of Loki's quim. Loki strokes his cock harder in frustration.

Thor leans in close and Loki stills to better feel the soft kisses Thor is placing on the folds of skin between his legs.

“Thor, please,” Loki whispers.

Thor's fingertip grazes Loki's anus and Loki jolts.

“Yes,” Loki hisses, and feels Thor nodding.

Thor's finger circles and teases the tiny hole while he laps at the lips of Loki's quim. Loki's hand pumps his prick and his breathing deepens. When Thor slides his finger into Loki's ass, Loki clenches, pushing tart clear fluid out of his cunny and onto Thor's waiting tongue. Thor keeps licking and matches the thrusts of his finger to the strokes of Loki's hand until Loki's legs stiffen and his hips brace.

“Oh, Thor, I'm... I'm-” Loki sobs, and then he's keening and soaking his chest in seed.

Thor carefully slides his finger free and Loki sits up, pouring more oil into his cupped palm and pushing Thor down onto his back. Loki sits on Thor's thighs, loving all that firm warmth between his legs.

Thor's cock is hard, hot, and sticky in Loki's hand and Loki has no patience; his wrist works quickly and he watches Thor's face. Thor watches Loki's hand, with its prettily tapered fingers. Watches Loki's long hair as it sways. Sees Loki's lovely breasts bouncing with each stroke. Looks up to find Loki smiling down on him.

Thor arches and moans, and Loki watches the little streaks of fluid spurt from the flesh held in his hand, spattering Thor's broad chest. He reaches to trail a finger through the droplets, drawing spirals on Thor's skin.

They sit there, panting.

“We need a bath,” Thor sighs, and Loki nods and clambers off of him.

They wash themselves slowly. The babies are still sleeping, so they can take their time.

Thor stares at the light reflecting off of the water and thinks of their trip to the lake that afternoon.

“Stigr and Sindri,” Thor murmurs, and Loki nods.

“And Sindri is the swimmer,” Loki guesses.

“Aye.”

“I'm calling him Sin, for short,” Loki smiles, and Thor snorts.

After their bath, they peek in on the twins. They're tempted to wake them and tell them their names, but they wait, leaning over the crib and watching them sleep.

Eventually little eyes blink up at them and they pick them up and murmur their names to them over and over. Loki gives them their dinner while Thor kneels at Loki's feet, taking pictures with the camera Pepper gave them.

He's taken thousands. All through Loki's pregnancy and almost ceaselessly since the babies were born. He has a flip-book made of photos taken of Loki in profile. You can watch his belly swell and his breasts pop from his chest. The first images in this series feature much eye-rolling from Loki, as there are no visible signs of his pregnancy, so, really, Thor is just making him stand by the light from the door so that he can take photos of his naked husband.

Half the photos Loki takes of Thor occur when Thor is sleeping. Loki likes having a record of the part of Thor's life that so often goes unseen. Of the vulnerability of him. Evidence that Thor trusts him – his body spread across the sheets with his jaw slack, eyes closed, throat and belly exposed.

The other half are primarily shots of Thor with the twins, but there are exceptions. Loki is fond of snapping pictures of Thor while he's dressing and undressing, drinking and laughing. There are a few of Thor in Freyja's dress and Brisingamen. More than a few of Thor in nothing at all - or wearing Loki's shadow as Loki crowds him toward the bed.

The babies wake only twice more that night, and it's before their parents have fallen asleep. They don't cry again until dawn. Thor and Loki make a habit of taking them out for exhausting walks each day after that to get the babes to sleep though the night.

Two weeks later, Frigga arrives in their cave unannounced, with Odin in tow. They find their sons asleep in a tangle of limbs, Loki's face squished against Thor's shoulder, Thor's arm under Loki's neck. Frigga brought them breakfast, and the scent wakes them.

“Good morning,” she smiles.

“Good morning,” they murmur.

“Have they had breakfast?” she asks.

“Twice,” Loki nods.

They hear gurgling and laughter coming from the nursery. Odin delights the twins to no end. Loki supposes that nothing will ever frighten his children; their grandfather is by far the most fearsome being in the realms, and they had him wrapped him around their little fingers mere moments after their birth.

“Is everything all right?” Thor asks.

“Aye,” Frigga answers. “But I haven't seen my grandchildren in weeks.”

“Sorry,” Loki winces. “We're trying to get them to sleep regularly, so we've been out entertaining them all day.”

“I know,” she says, sitting on the bed beside her sons.

They're visibly exhausted. They haven't scrambled away to dress or cover themselves or eat breakfast: they're still in the same half-conscious heap she found them in.

“Your father and I will watch them in the afternoons for as long as you like.”

“You don't have to do that,” Loki says. “They're our respon-”

“We want to, darling,” Frigga soothes. “We haven't had a baby in over a thousand years. I can't even tell you how much I've missed it. And your father never tires of babes. Not even the wicked ones,” she says, pinching Thor and making him whine. “Eat your breakfast,” she says, digging her fingers into Thor's ribs and then hopping off the bed before he can retaliate.

They drag themselves from their warm nest and tug on robes, sitting at the table and eating sluggishly. Thor is finished within minutes and sits, slicing things for Loki to eat while Loki dutifully devours enough food to kill Volstagg.

Afterward, they get back in bed and sleep until Frigga wakes them to tell them she and Odin are heading home for the night. They thank their parents profusely and feel rested in a way they had forgotten was possible.

The next morning Loki has to go see Halldis. Thor watches the twins as they sleep and thinks of his parents, eagerly caring for their grandchildren. He tries to imagine going a thousand years without this. He ends up in tears.

When Loki returns, Thor kisses him hello and says he has to go talk to Odin. Loki pinches Thor's behind and tells him to hurry back.

Thor finds his father in a field, tending to the last of summer's fruits and vegetables and the first of fall's gourds.

“Did they sleep through the night?” Odin asks.

“Aye. We all did. I can't thank you enough,” Thor nods.

“When may we have them again?” Odin asks, and Thor laughs.

“I'll ask Loki when I get home.”

“Why is your forehead in knots, lad?” Odin says, straightening and leaning on his hoe.

Thor takes a wavering breath and looks his father in the eye.

“Are we to have three? Or could there be more if we wished it? In the ceremony at our wedding... the ribbons... If we tried for a fourth child, would we fail? Would we lose the baby? Would I lose them both? Or...” Thor trails off when he sees Odin nodding in understanding.

“I have only seen the three,” Odin says.

“And Loki?” Thor whispers.

“And your brother is there with you,” Odin confirms, and Thor's breath sighs from his lungs. “But don't give the Norns an inch, Thor,” Odin warns. “They will drown you in it.”

Thor's jaw goes tight but he nods.

“Thank you,” Thor whispers.

“I'm sorry I could not tell you what you wished to hear.”

“You say he is with me.”

“Aye.”

“Then all will be well.”

Odin nods and squeezes Thor's arm.

When Thor returns to the cave he finds Loki in the nursery, feeding the twins. Thor leans against the wall, staring at them.

Loki looks up to find that his brother's face looks strained.

“What happened?” Loki whispers, and Thor sighs.

“I spoke to Father.”

“About what?” Loki says, brow quirking.

“I asked him what would happen if we tried to have more than three children.”

Loki nods, relaxing, for he already knows. He is used to prophecy. Thor isn't.

“Does it not bother you?” Thor asks. “I wish I'd torn every ribbon from our wrists.”

“How many babes do you want me to bear?” Loki chuckles.

Thor blushes.

“I just...”

“What?” Loki coaxes.

“I love this.”

“I know,” Loki smiles. “But we mustn't be greedy.”

Thor sighs and nods.

Loki puts the twins down.

“They've been fidgeting all morning. We should take them out,” Loki says.

“Father wants to know when he can have them again.”

“Whenever he likes,” Loki says. “Is he tinkering in his fields?”

“Aye.”

“He may have them as soon as he's finished.”

They spend the day in Frigga's gardens. Their parents join them, gradually stealing the babies and leaving the brothers to relax under a tree.

"If mother's prediction is to be believed - and I suspect it is - we can expect a daughter,” Loki murmurs. “So we'll have that to look forward to."

“Should we have her sooner or later?” Thor asks.

“If it's ours to decide - which is dubious with our history so far - then for our sake, I would have her later, to let us rest. To give us a baby to look forward to when we're older... But, for her sake... I would have us young, and I would have her brothers young enough to be her playmates. We should try to have her soon, don't you think?”

Thor nods and weeps.

After Thor's sniffling ceases, Loki decides to cheer him.

Thor sees his brother's skin flash blue before his eyes. The color bleeds onto his own skin where their bodies touch. Loki calls ice to his fingertip and then sets it on his tongue.

Thor eyes widen.

“She said you're well enough?” Thor whispers.

Loki nods, grinning, and chomps on his ice chip. They scramble to their feet and then they're tipping into the Bifrost.

Loki takes them to the lake. To the soft grass that lies in the shade between the trees and the sand. They lie down and wrap their arms around each other. The woods smell wonderful. The scent of pine sends their minds back to the days they spent here together, swimming and tearing centuries of restraint to tatters.

Thor has a thigh thrown over Loki's hip to keep him close. They kiss with a delicacy that would shock those who've seen them in battle, quietly nipping at cheeks and lips while their fingers trace jaws and tangle in long hair. Loki opens his mouth against Thor's and dips his tongue inside, swiping teeth and tasting the sour tang of skin. His hand is on Thor's backside, urging it closer. Thor is working the neck of Loki's tunic open, pulling it aside to expose his shoulder.

Thor wants copies of his brother cast in bronze. He wants to see this body standing in every city square in all the realms.

He slides his fingers into the hollow above Loki's collar bone and bends to fit his lips into the place. Loki is unlacing Thor's leggings, loosening them to grant relief to the poor flesh trapped inside.

They peck each other's lips and then briefly disentangle themselves to tug off their clothes, watching each other all the while and fumbling distractedly with their garments.

Loki pulls Thor down with him and Thor shifts so he's half on top of his brother, running his right hand over soft pale skin.

“It's gone,” Thor says sadly, resting his palm on Loki's belly. The skin is smooth and flat and muscled once more. The stretchmarks have melted away. Loki's breasts are all that remain of his pregnancy.

“If it's any consolation, those leggings you're so fond of will finally fit me again.”

Thor hums his approval and Loki tugs him down by the hair until they're sighing into each other's open mouths.

They have time today.

They won't be interrupted.

Thor kisses everything.

But he save the best for last.

Loki wants to grab Thor by the ears and drag his pretty blond head between his legs where it belongs, but when Thor finally gets there Loki has to admit – secretly and silently and only to himself – that it was worth the wait.

Thor kisses his way inward and then slowly drags his tongue from Loki's taint to the tip of his prick. Loki arches as though a wave has just rolled under him. Thor runs his tongue up and down this path, watching his brother bend like electricity is running through him.

On the next trip down, Thor's tongue follows the base of Loki's cock and then loops around the lips of his quim. Loki makes a sound like a cross between purring and panting. Thor smirks and keeps circling. Loki's legs keep spreading wider and his hips arch up, wordlessly begging for more touch. Thor's thumbs come up and spread the folds of flesh wide. Loki goes still and Thor can see the passage before him twitching and clenching.

“All right?” Thor whispers.

“Aye.”

Thor leans in and traces the folds with the tip of his tongue, tickling them and teasing them and then tugging at them with his lips. He dips his tongue slowly inside, swirling it as he goes, feeling the muscle flex around it and loving the tartness he tastes there. The flesh is rosy and firm once again, looking like it couldn't accommodate a little finger, let alone an infant. Thor hums and glides his tongue into it, burying his face as Loki's legs sag around him.

They both find it equal parts soothing and thrilling - a strange balance, building comfort and tension in equal measure. Their minds register how worshiped and welcome they feel while their bodies burn with the energy coiling in their muscles, waiting to race through their nerves.

Thor follows the root of Loki's cock back up and licks over the slit at its tip, tasting the more savory flavor of the fluid beading there. He nuzzles the column of flesh, knocking it back and forth with the tip of his nose and pressing kisses to the base.

“What would you like?” Thor asks.

Loki beckons Thor with his hands and Thor follows, crawling up the lithe body beneath him, dropping his head to kiss ribs, breasts, and shoulders as he goes.

Loki wraps his legs around Thor's waist and smiles, reaching between them to guide Thor into him, pulling him down with his calves until their hips are flush and Thor is panting against Loki's neck.

“All right?” Thor asks.

“Mmmm,” Loki affirms. “You?”

“Aye,” Thor breathes.

“Does it feel the same?” Loki whispers.

“Yes,” Thor says. “And for you?”

Loki nods and hugs Thor tightly, relieved to have this again, every bit as lovely as he remembers it. Grateful that they're gods. The rest of the Aesir aren't quite this lucky. Their bodies mend, but they are changed. Loki wonders if he has his Jotun heritage to thank for the perfection of this healing, or if Halldis's magic was involved. Or Odin's. Or Frigga's. He supposes no one really expects any recognition for this sort of thing, even if they are responsible. He certainly won't be sending any thanks for making my quim tight again presents.

Loki kisses Thor's cheek and gives a squeeze with his legs to set Thor's hips moving. Thor hums and follows Loki's instructions, moaning against Loki's jaw as the silky skin within his brother grips him and wrings pleasure from his form. Loki spills less than a minute later, thrashing and sobbing, and Thor can't resist the sight, burying his cock deep in the wet heat of Loki's cunt, filling him with seed and gasping his name.

They lie there a minute, panting and staring at each other, before Thor reluctantly climbs off. He doesn't go far, merely pressing his breast to Loki's side and propping himself up on one elbow.

Loki's head tips over to look at him, arching an eyebrow. His eyes widen as Thor's fingertips glide along the wet skin between his legs, drawing every curve and fold, slipping through the seed that's slowly seeping out and dripping onto the grass below. Thor looks on as the movements of his fingers play out on the features of his brother's face. Loki's nostrils flare and jump. His lips part to let in deeper breaths. His eyes close.

When Thor's third finger eases into his quim, Loki's head strains back and he lifts a hand to caress his own half-hard cock, rousing it with swift firm strokes. Thor's finger completes a circuit in and out of Loki's cunny with every fourth fall of Loki's hand. Loki's breaths become swifter and shallower until they cease entirely and his hips lift, straining toward their goal. He arches and keens when his orgasm takes him, then lies there, gasping and wide-eyed, smiling at the sky.

“All right?” Thor murmurs.

Loki nods, still beaming up at the air.

“It was... You just... I've never...” Loki babbles, and Thor chuckles and kisses him. “That was the best one. In all my life. By far. A thousand years, and I just spent so hard I saw stars.”

Thor laughs at this and kisses him again.

Loki still hasn't stopped smiling.

Thor flops onto his back and they watch the birds and dragonflies dart over their heads, grinning stupidly up at the sky until they nod off. They nap for half an hour and then stagger into the lake to swim and wrestle before floating on their backs and spitting water at each other for twenty minutes.

When Loki's breasts begin to ache the brothers dress and track down their parents, finding them in Frigga's hall, piled onto the sofa. The twins are asleep in their grandparents' arms.

“Wake with good appetites, darlings, your Father is getting crabby,” Frigga whispers.

Loki snorts and he and Thor sit down to ask how the babies behaved.

At the sound of their parents' voices, the babes wake and are more than happy to nurse. Frigga and Odin snatch them back from Loki as soon as they've finished eating, burping them while Loki and Thor look on, bewildered.

“Thank you for watching them, “ Loki says. “We can take them home for the even-”

“Nonsense. Go dine with your friends,” Frigga says, shooing her sons away with her fingertips. “You've not seen them in ages.”

The brothers nod and make their way to the sparring arena to retrieve their friends and escort them to the dining hall.

 

Thor had been nervous in the days leading up to his coronation. Loki had asked if he was worried about being king. Thor said he wanted to tell his friends that they were together. That he wanted them to know everything so that they would know who they were - or were not - supporting. Loki worried that he would be branded the villain somehow, but he went with Thor. He wasn't about to leave him alone for his. You never know when someone is going to react violently to strange news.

They had all dined together in the hall and Thor asked Sif and the warriors three if they'd join he and Loki out in the gardens despite the cold. They sat down on benches and as soon as they were seated Thor was bracing himself and taking a deep breath.

“I'm in love with Loki,” Thor had said.

Loki had barked a shocked laugh, seeing the gasp appear as steam in the air before his lips, and taken a deep breath of his own.

“Norns. I should have seen that coming. Still not one to beat around the bush, are you?” Loki had boggled, before straightening and looking at the warriors before him. “I'm in love with Thor. Always have been.”

Fandral had been smiling at them. Sif and Hogun were fishing coins out of their purses and giving them to Volstagg, and they'd been smiling, too.

“About a week after I made that bet I realized I'd lost it,” Sif had confessed.

And that was the end of it. They weren't angry or surprised or disgusted. Nothing changed, apart from a weight seeming to lift from Thor's shoulders... and Loki felt pleased in some unforeseen way. It was nice to have someone other than his parents know that he was loved and wanted, and that he was capable of love.

The six friends crowd around a table in the dining hall and sit down to feast. Volstagg and Loki make a contest of it. Bets are placed. Eyes are widened. Loki's victory is decisive. Everyone but Thor gapes. Thor collects his winnings.

Volstagg has advice for the brothers on dealing with teething and fussing. They listen with a mixture of eagerness and dread. He offers to babysit.

“You'll have to fight Odin and Frigga for them, I'm afraid,” Loki sighs.

“I would lose,” Volstagg says.

“If it's any consolation, we don't fare much better,” Loki admits. “We tried to get the twins back before dinner and Mother all but told us to burn.”

“Ma” is the first sound the twins make. Thor thinks they're calling him Mama, and he's ecstatic, encouraging them and repeating it as joyful tears stream down his cheeks. Loki doesn't have the heart to tell him it's the first sound all babies make. He's curious to see how long Thor will rejoice at being called Mama. The answer will turn out to be all his life.

They had suspected it from the start, but it becomes unmistakable after a point: the twins are not identical. Sindri looks like Thor – fair haired, with gold skin, and Stigr looks like Loki – raven-haired and pale. But they both have violet eyes. Loki guesses it's the red of his Jotun eyes combining with the riotous blue of Thor's irises, but who knows. Regardless, everyone who sees the babies marvels at their beauty.

Babyhood is brief, by Asgardian standards.

No species in any realm spends more time in infancy than it absolutely has to: it's too dangerous for both the child and its parents.

For the first nine years of their lives, Aesir children grow as swiftly as those on Midgard. After that, each human year will take a decade to pass for an Aesir. It slows again once the bones are fully developed. Eating Idunn's apples can slow aging at any point, but it's risky to do so during infancy and early childhood: to have a child lingering in helplessness during wartime is terrifying, and even in peacetime it's a great strain.

Thor and Loki are pondering whether they trust the realms enough to give the twins juice from Idunn's apples, or if they should let them go without a taste of that fruit until manhood.

Knowing that they'll only have the three babies makes them want to draw these days out for as long as they can.

But the danger gnaws at them.

The thought of their babies being unnecessarily defenseless terrifies them.

They decide against it, though it reduces them to tears and shuddering sobs – their sons will grow swiftly.

Thor takes more photographs than ever.

Frigga and Odin watch the twins so that Thor and Loki can visit their friends on Midgard. Thor wishes to acquire more cameras and Loki wants new books.

Thor talks photography with Tony and Jarvis while Loki and Pepper do a tour of bookstores. Loki has to alter his suits slightly to accommodate his breasts, but they're not noticeable unless you know to look for them. He has stacks of books of poetry in his pockets, reduced to nearly nothing.

At four pm Jarvis interrupts Thor and Tony to tell them Loki has been arrested.

Pepper calls seconds later confirming it.

S.H.I.E.L.D. has him. Tony wishes he felt surprised. He sends lawyers and takes Steve and Thor to hunt down Fury and ask what the hell? Fury tells them S.H.I.E.L.D still classifies Loki as a war criminal. They've had a team waiting to pick him up for over a year. Stark points out that Loki helped with Thanos and Doom. Nick says they blame him for the appearance of Thanos in the first place. And the killing of Doom, though not unwelcome, was done in a manner of which they don't approve.

Stark's lawyers call with instructions from Loki that Thor is not to interfere. Not to use the Bifrost to enter Loki's cell. He is not to wear his armor. Not to carry Mjolnir. Not to speak. He is only to take care of the twins, visit Loki when requested, and listen to Frigga.

Stark tells Steve to keep an eye on Thor, since he's the only one who can face off against him without having to suit up or Hulk out.

The thunderstorm in New York was overlooked by every meteorologist in the country.

When they arrive at S.H.I.E.L.D's holding facility they find Loki in a glass cell, rolling his eyes.

Stark doesn't understand it. He saw what Loki did with Doom. He knows Loki can leave this cell. S.H.I.E.L.D probably knows it. What the fuck is he doing? Stark wonders.

“My breasts hurt,” Loki says.

“Let's go home.” Thor pleads.

“It seems I'm in the middle of something,” Loki answers.

Loki's lawyers have convinced S.H.I.E.L.D that any reasonable requests made by their client should be granted, which didn't take much arguing, since everyone in the room knew what Loki was capable of.

So far his requests are that the trial be completed in three days, that his brother may visit him, and that he may pump breast milk. This last one surprises them, but they grant it, along with the others.

Thor can hear whispers of horses and serpents and Hel. Thunder cracks and the building shakes.

“Thor,” Loki chides.

Loki's lawyers have access to him. Loki gets his breast pump and his attorneys ferry the milk to Thor. Loki sends his brother home to Asgard for the night.

Frigga is waiting for him in their cave. Thor fills bottles with milk and casts a spell to make them float where his breasts should be. He sits, stunned, in the chair lined with pillows and feeds the twins.

His mother tells him to stay calm and trust his brother. She'll watch the babies tomorrow.

In the morning the council tells Loki that, given his lifespan and power, the sentence for his crimes will be death rather than life in prison. Loki snorts.

They ask him how he pleads.

“Guilty,” he says, as though it's obvious.

Thor shoots out of his chair and Steve grabs him by the hair and slams him back down into it, throwing a hand over his mouth. When the Captain takes his hand away the top of it is drenched with tears.

The storm outside is so close you could touch the clouds, but you'd be electrocuted.

Loki pumps more milk and sends it home with Thor.

Frigga tells Thor he is to come straight home to the cave tomorrow and that she'll be waiting for him here.

Thor doesn't sleep that night. He just stands and stares at the twins.

He doesn't understand. Something's gone wrong. Or it won't happen. It can't happen. The spell that bound their hearts will save his brother, surely. And they don't have their daughter yet.

He tries to take comfort in that. His father's vision can't be wrong.

His mother's shout of, “A girl!” rings in Thor's ears.

In the morning, Loki's lawyer hands Thor a sealed envelope. He reads the strange and brief message contained within before it dissolves in his fingers.

Loki's final request for the council is that he be allowed to say farewell to Thor, and S.H.I.E.L.D grants it, though it makes them nervous. The brothers are heavily guarded.

They stand outside the door to a strange little cell.

“My king,” Loki says, dropping to one knee with his fist over his heart.

Thor is shaking his head no.

Loki rises and grips Thor's chin, stilling him.

The guards tighten their grips on their guns.

“Shhhh,” Loki soothes. “You'll be all right. Don't cause any trouble. Go straight home to Mother. She'll see you sorted.”

Thor is weeping freely and still shaking his head.

“Give us a kiss,” Loki whispers, and Thor chokes on a sob.

He grabs Loki's face and drags it to his own while Loki hums and fists the front of Thor's shirt. The onlookers gape and quickly avert their eyes.

Loki pushes something strange into Thor's mouth. It feels like a leather bullet, but it's as dense as Mjolnir.

Thor follows the instruction from Loki's dissolving letter: Swallow this kiss.

It sits heavy Thor's belly, making him sweat.

“Thank you,” Loki says, and he's led into the tiny room with one large glass window facing the room Thor is in.

The cell isn't much bigger than Loki is.

The room is sealed.

Council members file in.

Thor is still shaking his head no.

Steve is there with him. He takes Thor's hand and squeezes it. They can feel each other's pulses shooting through their fingers.

A gaunt man in an ill-fitting suit reads off Loki's crimes, plea, sentence, and the date and time.

A switch is flicked and Loki's cell fills with vapor.

Thor can barely see him, and his head is still faintly shaking no no no no no.

Another switch is flicked.

The room fills with fire.

Thor shouts and tries to rush forward, but Steve holds onto him.

When the air clears the floor is covered in ash.

No. It's just a trick. It has to be, Thor thinks.

S.H.I.E.L.D seems to be of the same opinion.

A woman with a strange device enters the room and bends to take a sample of the powder on the floor. She waits for her machine to analyze it.

“It's him,” she nods.

No no no...

Thor is chanting it aloud now, but he doesn't know it.

Steve is shaking him gently and telling him they need to leave.

“His ashes,” Thor murmurs.

Someone collects them and puts them in a sterile jar for Thor.

Loki's things are given to him. His clothes. The shrunken books that were in his pockets from his shopping trip. Money. Photos of Thor holding Stigr and Sindri. A ring he brought to give to Pepper. His breast pump and frozen bags of milk.

Thor hasn't stopped weeping once. The storm outside is relentless.

“Thor,” Steve whispers. “Buddy, you need to go home.”

Thor shakes himself and nods.

“Thank you for staying with me,” Thor says.

“I'm so sorry,” Steve says, crying with his friend.

“Please give my thanks to Stark,” Thor whispers, and Steve nods.

They hug tightly and then Thor is gone.

His mother is there waiting for him, as promised. She takes Loki's things from Thor's hands.

“Mama-”

“Shhh. Sit down darling,” Frigga says, guiding Thor to a seat.

He's going to vomit. He can feel it. It's been building for over an hour. He's drenched in sweat and shaking. He can barely see through his tears.

Frigga sets a large bowl with an inch of water in it on the table in front of him.

Thor doesn't understand the purpose of the water if he's just going to vomit in it, but he doesn't question his mother.

He thinks about the thing Loki pushed into his mouth when they kissed. Wonders if it was Loki's magic. If he somehow crystallized it and gave it to Thor. If that's what Odin meant when he said Loki was with him in his vision of the future. He wonders what will happen to Loki's magic if he throws it up. Perhaps that's what his mother is going to help him with. He wonders if he's meant to adopt a daughter. Or if he's meant to die and join Loki in a century or two, once the twins are grown and they don't need him anymore.

Perhaps Hel will adopt us, Thor thinks.

Or perhaps Loki just put our daughter in my belly and this is morning sickness.

Thor starts sweating again. Sobbing uncontrollably. Getting chills. It feels like the contents of his stomach are boiling and foaming up into his throat. He leans over the bowl, eyes watering.

“Let it out, sweetheart,” his mother murmurs, rubbing his back soothingly.

Thor gags a few times and then vomits, hearing something fall into the bowl with an impossibly deep thunk.

He shouts at what he sees in the bottom of the dish.

It's a finger.

The little finger of Loki's left hand. Thor knows every wrinkle. The shape of the nail. The taper of the digit. But it's so heavy.

Frigga hefts the bowl and walks down into the empty bathtub, setting it on the floor and murmuring spells.

“Come here,” she says.

Thor walks over and steps down into the pool beside his mother.

The pinkie has sprouted a palm and four nubs that are rapidly swelling into fingers and a thumb. Soon a wrist is pouring off of it. Frigga turns the water on in the bath and sets the fragment of limb on the floor in the rising water.

An elbow appears. Then biceps and a shoulder.

Within five minutes there's a tall thin man with long black curls floating face-down in the bath.

Frigga hauls Loki's head up by the hair, murmurs a spell, and smacks him hard on the back.

He sputters and curses, squeezing his eyes shut tight and holding his hand out for the soap. Frigga gives it to him and he scrubs himself frantically, griping about the acid in Thor's stomach all the while.

Frigga climbs out of the tub and dries herself with seidr, bidding her boys goodnight and leaving.

Thor stares at his brother.

The little finger of his left hand is gone.

“What have you done?” Thor asks.

“I wa-”

But the twins start whimpering and Loki calls, “Coming darlings,” before pecking Thor on the cheek and bounding up out of the bath.

Thor sighs and strips with seidr, bathing distractedly. He still has sadness coursing through him. It's been joined by happiness, relief, and anger. He's trembling with it all, pulled in so many directions.

He dresses and leaves to fetch dinner.

When he returns, he finds Loki still sprawled in the chair in the nursery, the babies draped over his chest. He's drumming his fingers over their plump little backsides while they burp and drool onto his collarbones. He's humming a lullaby Frigga used to sing when they were boys.

Thor is still shaking.

Loki puts the twins down for a nap and joins Thor for dinner.

“Why?” Thor asks, as soon as they're seated, and Loki smiles.

“I don't know where to start,” Loki sighs.

“Why didn't you warn me?”

“Because you're a terrible liar, Thor. I needed you to look surprised. And sad. And you wouldn't have if I'd warned you. If S.H.I.E.L.D thought you were in on it, they'd doubt you. And that doubt would spread to your friends. Midgard has always been unnerved by your allies; they don't need any additional distrust.”

“I need to tell them you're alive,” Thor realizes.

“Pepper will tell them.”

“She knew?” Thor yelps.

“She's an excellent liar,” Loki nods. “I want to take her gambling.”

“Norns, you're impossible. Why didn't you just leave the cell?”

“This was more fun.”

“You lost a finger!”

Loki shrugs.

“Where is it?” Thor asks.

“What?”

“Your finger,” Thor says.

“On the floor of the cell.”

“The ashes?”

“Aye.”

“I have them in a bottle,” Thor sighs, and Loki snorts. “How did you do it?”

“I disguised myself as the finger and stretched the real digit over a clone.”

“Did it hurt?”

“Aye.”

“Then why-”

“Because now it's finished. They got their way. They got their silly trial and their paltry justice. It's done. And you and your friends are free from suspicion. And...” Loki clears his throat and looks at the ceiling. “Much of Midgard has this marvelous thing called double jeopardy, which forbids them from putting me to trial for the same crime twice: they can't touch me. The next time I show up on your silly Earth to buy their bloody books, I'll look like a fucking phoenix. They'll think we're immortal. Imagine it, Thor. Who would dare cross you, believing you to be invincible?”

Thor huffs and rolls his eyes, then cocks an eyebrow.

“Yes, all right, fine. And I was bored. Happy?” Loki gripes, crossing his arms in a huff.

“I should have seen this coming,” Thor murmurs.

“I've been so good for so long," Loki whines. “It's killing me.”

“Something's going to be killing you in a minute."

“Is it your cock?” Loki grins, resting his chin in his hand and running his foot up Thor's thigh under the table.

Thor shakes his head and tries not to smile.

“I'm still angry with you," Thor says, sounding anything but.

Loki just smirks and gropes Thor with his toes.

Thor sighs.

Loki fashions a new finger from gold and seidr.

Thor refuses to admit that it's gorgeous.

  


**Author's Note:**

> please don't comment or repost.


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